Yeeun Yoo is a researcher whose work focuses on the resistance movements and histories of Asian American communities, the impacts of U.S. militarism, mutual aid, abolition, and transnational feminism. She has conducted research through the Penn Institute for Urban Research’s undergraduate program, where she developed an independent project on student-led mutual aid initiatives in New York City under the mentorship of Barnard professor Dr. Mary Rocco. Currently, she serves as a research assistant for Dr. Melissa Wilde in Sociology, contributing to a project on the intersection of religion and politics. As an ASAM Fellow, Yeeun is also exploring South Korea’s conscription system and its role in shaping militarized masculinities, with a particular focus on the history of U.S. military occupation in the region. In addition to her research, Yeeun is a Civic Scholar with Civic House at Penn and a Penn IUR Fellow. She is deeply involved in community work as the Community Engagement Coordinator for Moder Patshala in West Philadelphia and as a volunteer of the People’s Kitchen in South Philadelphia.

My research interests lay within cultural criticism, specifically within film and the social dynamics it portrays and how it does it through the lenses of its creators. Looking at what might have caused patterns in the interests of marginalized communities despite gender is a main aspect of my research. I focus on the overlaps between the female and queer gazes, finding tropes or values that each gaze maintains and looking into what could have formed them. My passion for this topic comes from both my natural curiosity and that I plan to go into the entertainment industry. anI've worked with iHeart radio as a production intern and created an episode speaking on the correlation between the arts and trauma. Creating conversations about the connection between psychological and social happenings that were developed by history is what I love doing. Apart from my research and career goals, I have taken part as a directors of SPEC Sound for the first 2 years of my education and taken part in other groups such as Women in Animation as an outreach chair as a regular attending member at Penn before going abroad my 3rd year to London.

I am interested in political psychology and how cognition affects foreign policy in South Asia. I am looking to develop a project within these interests.

Previously, I have worked in centers research education psychology and policy. I have particularly worked on a project analyzing the psychological effects of rhetoric education in secondary school curriculum.  

Outside of UScholars, I am involved in Penn Democrats (got to meet Kamala Harris, John Legend, many other cool people through advocacy work!) and the International Affairs Association. I also work at the Netter Center for Community Partnership's High School Voter Project as a school site coordinator. I love to sing, and I am trained in South Indian classical music--I'm looking forward to getting involved with some music groups on campus as well.

I am interested in researching the interconnectedness of culture and religion in Middle Eastern and/or North African countries.

My research interests lie in the intersection of machine learning, causal inference, and medical science, particularly in understanding complex conditions like ADHD and Alzheimer’s. I currently work as a research assistant at the Shen Lab, where I contribute to projects focused on applying topological causal inference and machine learning methods to analyze large-scale medical datasets and transformer protein-ligand interactions. Outside of research, I am actively involved in the Wharton Investment & Trading Group, Penn Debate Society, and the University Life Space & Events (ULSE) Student Advisory Council.

My research is broadly within the field of religious studies, but it has taken a few specific applications. I have assisted Dr. Talya Fishman in examining medieval Jewish works from Andalusian Spain, such as Judah Halevi’s Kuzari and selected poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol. With the support of University Scholars and Dr. Fishman as my research mentor, I conducted an independent study that analyzed Benedict Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise and his thoughts on Moses, Jesus, and national religion. I am continuing to work on this project through the school year by looking closer at other notable figures in the early modern period who influenced Spinoza’s thought. All of my research has drawn on my interest in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, which I hope to research more in depth in the future. Outside of my research, I have various hobbies that I enjoy, such as running, reading, and playing piano.

• PMG Group Leader
• Research Assistant to Dr. Talya Fishman, Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures

Sophia’s studies are located at the intersection of cultural theory, security studies, and international law. Her interdisciplinary research explores the history of enemies, power politics, and war in international relations, with a special focus on the Cold War and post-Cold War-order theatre between Eastern and Central Europe and the West. 

In the humanities, her methodologies employ media analysis, sociology, and investigative journalism to understand how contemporary national identities in Eurasia negotiate their socialist past. At conferences like REEES-Northeast and Slavic Bazaar, she has presented on the 1990-era absurdist cartoons of Russian animator Ivan Maximov as well as on the material object in Sergei Eisenstein’s genealogy of cinema. With the help of University Scholars funding, she travelled in June 2023 to Czechia, Slovakia, and Estonia for ethnographic research on how streetskateboarding subcultures interact with surrounding socialist architecture and their local urban planning politics.

In political science and law, Sophia’s research merge geoeconomics and great-power politics. She is particularly interested in IR theory, the legal implications of economic warfare, and what political risk management can look like in a highly interdependent world. With support from UScholars, she spent the summer of 2024 as an intern at Centre Thucydide, a research centre between the Sorbonne-Panthéon Assas Universities in Paris, researching the geoeconomic implications of a seizure of Russian assets and copy-editing a collection in French on the laws of war in Ukraine and Gaza. Her senior thesis focuses on the logics of wartime trade between enemies during the Great War. 

Her extracurricular interests involve rock climbing, biking, theatre arts, and rare books.

• Eurasia Intern at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
• Marcellus Policy Fellow at the John Quincy Adams Society
• Research Assistant at the Wharton School Political Risk & Identity Lab
• PMG Group Lead

My research interests include the fields of anthropology, sociology, neuroscience, psychology, and legal studies. Generally, I am interested in exploring why humans act the way that we do, on both the macro and micro levels. Anthropology and sociology allow me to look at the big picture, at cultural and societal forces that shape our thinking and behavior, while neuroscience and psychology allow me to do the same at an individual, biological basis. I am interested in conducting research that blends all of these areas, in addition to separately exploring the rule of law. In the past, I have worked on research papers centered on the neuroscience of addiction, developmental psychology, cross-cultural emotion expression, and literary theory. Outside of UScholars, I am a part of the Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn Moot Court, the Penn Review, and the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal.

My tentative research interest currently lies in the distribution of political power within democratic, authoritarian, and hybrid regimes throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I am currently studying Mandarin Chinese with the hopes of conducting political and historical research in East Asia one day. I am looking forward to refining my research interests and identifying more specific topics of interest to me. Outside of my research, I currently serve as a Secretary Senior Deputy for Penn Democrats, a Newsletter Development intern for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and an Alumni Representative for the U.S. Department of State's National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y).

Previously researched inter-religious marriages in India and their legal implications, how music affects plants, and the decolonization of Chagos Islands. Interested in international security and peacekeeping.